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*The following is intended as the basis for a discussion in a local philosophy group I intend to hold. Opinions and feedback much appreciated* Why Study Philosophy?There are many reasons to study philosophy, from moral, to practical, to hedonistic/Epicurean (the philosophy of pleasure associated with 3rd century B.C. garden philosopher, Epicurus), to scientific, to even religious.Once we recognize that we don't know the ultimate answers to the most ultimate questions about how we should live, and the nature of the Divine and reality in general, the remaining desire to live a morally good life, a pious life, a happy life, of even simply an honest life, seems to compel us, as the great philosopher, Socrates, (who said 'All I know is I know nothing') famously maintained, to devote ourselves to this quest. In fact, as Plato famously argued, our ordinary, pre-philosophic beliefs are similar to living in a dark cave never having once glimpsed the light; we simply grow up acquiring beliefs much like an uncleaned shelf acquires dust over the years, never inquiring into the their ultimate basis. We are like a tree already with a trunk and branches but poorly formed roots. Thus often our self-value and sense of meaning in life is very precarious, because we are literally living a lie. This is the ultimate source of much of the rage and despair we see in people today. Even if the quest for an ultimate basis of our beliefs may turn out to be partly elusive, it seems that human beings, or at least some of them, have a great longing for such a basis that compels us to make this quest for the satisfaction of our own conscience, a quest that can be enormously therapeutic and by which we can come to know what Leo Strauss called 'the true human community', which due to the inherently separate and private nature of the body, can only ever be a community of thought, of ideas, or of the mind.Science today, just like religion in the past, claims to be an authoritative source of knowledge. It claims to be unlike religion in being based on a rigorous method of experiment and observation which all but guarantees its validity. However, until we have thoroughly investigated such claims in the light of ultimate questions about what knowledge is and how it can ever be securely obtained, it cannot or should not have any binding force over us. In matter of fact, there is widespread dispute and controvery even within the scientific community itself about the reliability of much of the research published even in its most eminent journals, especially regarding the social sciences. And stories of corruption abound. Therefore, while certainly an important part of our culture that has led to many technological and material advances, it does not seem that 'Science' is a very sure foundation of knowledge. And this is even more true in the domain of values, of which science itself generally admits to being an incapable arbiter and in which the biases of Power and Custom still heavily distort things.Yet the notion that Facts and Values are totally incommunicable with/ irreducible to one another is a highly dubious, if not outright fallacious modern notion that we must be sure does not go unchallenged. in order to create or discover values that are in accord with our ultimate happiness, to realize our true will, to be effective in the world, we have to understand the nature of the machine we are dealing with as best we can. And that includes, most crucially of all, the machine that we ourselves are. One wouldn't try getting into the cockpit and flying a plane if one had never studied it, so why do we think we can operate the most complex machine in the known universe, the human brain, without similarly studying and coming to understand human nature? And the nature of society which has shaped us, and provides much of the domain for meaningful action? That is why these are questions which have long dominated philosophy as well as more recent modern day 'Science', and we shall be paying particular attention to them in our own inquiries.Thus, philosophy is not merely a moral or scientific imperative (though it certainly is that), but essential to our own happiness and sense of mental and physical well-being. It is not really some specialized 'discipline', as it is often distorted as today, (or merely a collective endeavour in the manner of 'Science'), but actually a crucial stage in all of our individual and collective development. That is also why it has often been described as 'a way of life', since the questions it raises are deep waters which one can easily devote a whole life time to trying to unravel; and thereby doing, one will undoubtedly perform a most invaluable social function, an 'archetype' (to quote C. G. Jung) of acting as a guide to truth and the best manner of life for others - for according to many, the function of a philosopher, as he who views 'the Truth' as it really is, is almost inseparable from spiritual leader or law-giver for a whole society, or even, nowadays, the whole of humankind. However, we seek to have as many 'leaders' as we can! Particularly for the young (although potentially at almost any age), it marks their coming into their own and discovering themselves anew, after a life time of socially inculcated programming, permitting a form of direct and intimate connection with the truth, with reality that can be hugely inspiring and empowering, rather than the extremely mediated manner, via institutions of power, which we are used to. This is one of the reasons why philosophy or the life of free thought is often put forward as the good or happy life, since it allows for an almost 'god-like' sense of self-sufficiency and spiritual independence on the part of its practicioners that makes them a blessing to both themselves and to those around them. That is why I do not urge people to simply become 'readers of philosophy' deferring to tradition or popular currents but active philosophers in their own right relying as much as possible on their own steam; in other words, since the nature of reality is individual, the quest for meaning itself is not an abstract, bloodless quest that others can do for you, but fundamentally the most vital and potentially life-changing question of all: 'what is MY meaning?', which though some may find challenging and can certainly be informed by the thoughts of others, (as we will do very much in this course by studying the Great Works), the beauty of it is that it is also essentially a matter of harking to responses of one's own heart, which many of us have suppressed for far too long to the detriment of our own sense of self-worth and happiness. Lastly, the love and facility for questioning and multiple perspectives and answers it opens up acts as a tremendous vaccine against censorious fanaticism, to which we as a society today are becoming increasingly once again prey, as we have so many times before. This is just one more reason why it is so crucial that all young people today be taught philosophy, which in a supposedly 'free society' represents the basis of true, (rather than merely ideologically stated), freedom and sense of mental and even physical well-being. https://madnessaformoflove.blogspot.com/2018/09/why-study-philosophy.html

I'm sorry if I've glanced over it. There are so many podcasts. It can get messy and confusing. I'd like a concise definition and explanation. Thank you.

I'm going through a critical time in my maturity. I am 19 years old. I'm experiencing things I've never done before. I'm finding out how to interact with the world and what is appropriate. I found this show much earlier. I started listening when I was 16 years old. Iv'e listened to at least a 1000 shows by now. I am an anarchocapitalist, I am an atheist, I have no unchosen obligations, and I'm very happy with the people around me. Am I happier now? No, I'm more depressed. How should this be possible? I think I made a grave mistake... I have a bunch of different emotions running through my head. It's these emotions that reflect my desires, that is, the true self. Rather than accepting that I have no free will over these emotions, I tried to rationalise them using logic. I tried to justify my behaviour. Should I kiss her? Is that in line with monogamy? What should my career be? Is that in line with UPB? Can white lies be justified? Do I have a moral responsibility to inform others about philosophy? The list could keep going on... I believe what I have done is conflate morality with the true self. When Stefan speaks, it is kind of assumed that you are a functioning human being who knows what makes you happy. For example, if someone calls in with a very particular topic about something happening recently in their life, it's unlikely that they will delve into self-knowledge, because if that was the problem, then they would most likely bring that up. Topics such as, how many times a week should you have sex or is it okay to drink alcohol don't come up. These are, catagorically speaking, aesthetic questions, and only now do I realise that these aesthetics are completely uncontrollable and subject to the true self. Morality attempts to dissolve what impedes upon the true self, rather than justifying the true self. It is impossible to escape the true self. If you try to rationalise your behaviour, you will inevitably rationalise your emotions, and when you start rationalising your emotions you will fail because emotions aren't subject to being universal. So you will create these theories which will try to attempt to explain your behaviour and feel intuitive. For example, men make bigger risks in gambling when a woman who is on her period is standing next to them rather than a woman who is not on her period. This level of behaviour is far below anything the conscious mind can percieve. The man might justify his behaviour with these complex theories such as it is moral to bet more when a woman is nearby because it makes her feel good and that is an exchange of value, or some other weird theory like that. He won't ever understand why he really is behaving the way he is. (Please pay attention to this example, it summarises my whole points ^) I believe it's my wanting to justify my behaviour that lead me to this show in the first place. I have always been obssesed with philosophy. Albeit, it has not made me happier. I feel I am becoming more detached from my true self as these rationalisations start overwhelming my pure emotions. This insight into myself is huge. Please don't mistake this as a criticism of any sort. From an intellectual standpoint, I am grateful to learn what I have learned. Even if I have used philosophy to bury my true self, I know it is also a part of my true self and a part of my inquisitive nature. That part will stay with me, and I'm sure that it will prevent myself from coming in contact with toxic, manipulative people in the future. So what now? I have a number of big opportunities ahead of me. I believe these opportunities have actually driven me to come to this realisation about myself and write this post. A way of my unconscious mind sort of saying, "Hey, these decisions are important. Are you sure you know what you are doing?". Thanks, unconscious mind. I will go head first into these opportunities, and I will allow my emotions to guide me. I have learned that it is perfectly safe (and necessary) to do so as long as I follow my moral principles on a very strictly, moral level. Forget applying it to the aesthetics. I am very, very lucky meet the people I have met, and have the opportunities that I've been given. It should not be squandered. It is not a coincidence that I am where I am. It is not a coincidence that I have befriended the people I have befriended. It isn't a coincidence that I'm doing the course I am doing. My true self was nudging me the entire time and I have just made it a struggle for myself. This is how I know I am on the right path, and it's okay to let go.

An attempt to capture the philosophy of one of the greatest thinkers of all time using pen, paper, and a video cam.

Hello, folks! There may be no objective and quantifiable way to answer the question I'd like to pose to you, but I'd sincerely appreciate any thoughts and insight you can offer on the subject! I am interested in securing for myself a heterosexual monogamous relationship with an intelligent and virtuous woman. The question I'm wrestling with is: Should I work hard to find a virtuous woman to enjoy life with now at age 20, or later after I've accumulated more resources? Related subjects of interest for this discussion include: Sexual market value, how to meet new women, online dating, and life planning This is a very important question to me. I feel like I'm finally healthy enough as a man to attract and be worthy of the kind of woman I dream of. I've been to nine months of IFS therapy with an amazing therapist, have had almost a thousand hours of emotionally-connected, challenging, empathetic and rewarding conversations with my closest friends who are all Freedomain Radio listeners, and have been working diligently for a long time to understand my childhood and adolescent traumas, process them, and heal from them. I am in a remarkably unique situation which would drastically favor my odds, and I think it's appropriate to relay the reasons in my mind why I think it would be a good idea for me to begin the search now for a partner. However, as I will discuss, I am feeling hesitant to begin due to a lack of dating knowledge and experience. This has me wondering whether or not I should wait until I accumulate more resources first. I have attempted to remain impartial in the following self-assessment of my strengths. These are the reasons why I believe it is high-time for me to put myself out there. Financially, I have tens of thousands of dollars in assets saved. Beyond any doubt in my mind, I will be making enough money to fully support myself with my business plans by time I turn 21 this July. Presently, I am operating my budget at a significant loss so that I may live on my own and run my own online business promoting precious metals and preserving freedom. I have enough money to comfortably live an entire year, ALL expenses included, with no income whatsoever; however I have formulated articulate and actionable plans to generate more profit than life expenses by the end of June. This means that (if all goes according to plan) I will be 100% financially secure and independent by the age of 21 and living a richly rewarding existence doing that which I'm genuinely passionate about. Molyneux has often said that in order to attract great people into your life, one must shine the beacon of virtue bright into the sky so that all those who are in tune with the signal and able to recognize virtue on sight may find their way to the signal's origin. Basically, my hope is that by doing the work that I do and successfully making a living out of it, I will be not only living the life of my dreams, but more attractive to the woman of my dreams. Emotionally, I am in the greatest health of my life. I have worked arduously to emerge from a depressive slump, marijuana addiction, and irrational paranoia through many months of intensive work in therapy. My level of self-confidence has increased greatly since the massive blow it took from my previous dysfunctional relationship prior to exploring self-knowledge. Through practice in hundreds of hours of difficult conversations in building virtue-based friendships, I am able to empathize now like never before! My parents and I are in the process of having many difficult conversations about my upbringing - venomous verbal abuse, manipulation, and blarping were unfortunately all central to my childhood. However, I feel hope with regards to my relationship to my parents as their willingness to accept responsibility and apologize for their wrong doings is a good sign in my eye. I believe that the work I am doing will prove to be instrumental in attracting a woman of virtue. However, I have a very long road ahead of me until I have fully resolved every conceivable issue. Yet, I feel healthy enough to begin the search! I do not know if it is necessary to process 100% of one's childhood prior to looking for a partner. Hell, some people process 0% of theirs. What are your thoughts on this??? Mentally, I'm very intelligent and articulate. My verbal IQ clocks in at around 140 and I would consider myself to be a gifted communicator, both written and verbally. This will arguably serve me well in any undertaking I choose for the rest of my life. With regards to dating, I know that for myself, intelligence is a key trait I'm looking for in a lover. I'd like to marry a woman with an IQ of 120 or more (top ~10%). I am charismatic and feel that I am confident enough to engage in meaningful conversations even with woman of great beauty, which long ago would have made me too nervous. I think it's fair to say that my ideal partner would find intelligence and charisma attractive, and fair to say that I'd be able to satisfy at least those criteria. Physically, I consider myself to be quite lucky. By genetic accident, I am quite handsome. Others in my life have consistently rated me as a 9/10 on the scale of physical attractiveness, and I work out 2-3 times per week to build upon my athletic body. Let me be clear, I do not consider this to even remotely resemble a virtue, nor is matching physical attractiveness a "must" for me to feel satisfied in a virtue-based relationship. However, I know for a fact that this happens to increase my sexual market value, and my physique will only continue to improve as I continue living a healthy and active lifestyle. Personality-wise, I'm quite enjoyable to spend time with. I've got a strong sense of humor, am able to craft witty jokes, and have a great capacity for both intellectual and emotionally connected conversation. I'm a very compassionate and gentle person with a capacity for toughness and strength when the need arises. Sadly, I haven't spent much of any time with women my age over the past two years. I find that I have remarkably little in common with the "average" 18-21 year old, as I am more emotionally-matured than the vast majority of people in my age group. tl;dr? It may be a wise decision for me to begin the hunt for a fair and virtuous maiden now because I (think I) will have high dating market value, and I hold many virtues that a virtuous woman would find attractive. However, it is perhaps of even greater importance to now mention my shortcomings and why I feel hesitant to fully commit to putting myself out there on the dating market yet. These are the reasons why I think it could be better to wait until I've accumulated more resources. I lack dating experience! I've only been in one committed monogamous relationship which lasted for a year and four months. The relationship was overall very dysfunctional; we didn't share the same values, didn't share the same interests, didn't share the same level of intelligence, didn't get along 1/4th of the time, and my ex was a highly manipulative girl whom I allowed to pussy-whip me into being a little beta. Needless to say, while I now have many months and hundreds of hours of experience in having quality friendships, I don't have anything to model a quality romantic relationship off of. I lack sexual experience! In my previous relationship, despite having lost my virginity and having had sex dozens of times, I do not feel presently that I am "sexually experienced". My ex never really seemed to enjoy many of our sexual interactions, and often used sex to manipulate me into submission. This originally made me actually feel quite horrible about myself, which is just so terribly saddening to me now. I wanted so very much to explore, to try new things, and to learn how to better please a woman and for good reason! Sexual intimacy is a beautiful, wonderful part of any romantic relationship; I'd strive to please my partner like no other once the relationship got that far. Unfortunately at the time, I felt sexually rejected repeatedly which proved harmful to my self-esteem. Frankly, in retrospect I don't believe the problem was entirely me. I'm reasonably well-endowed and my partner had sexual trauma which hadn't been processed. Nonetheless, this lacking of experience may not work in my favor. I hardly know where the fuck to begin. How the hell do you guys meet women? Married gentlemen, how did you meet your wife?! I can't go to bars or clubs (not that I'd even really expect to find interesting people there [perhaps I am wrong?!]), and although I've made MANY new male friends from FDR, I've only met intelligent, captivating women who are either much older than I or live in different continents. I've created an okcupid account, and have found a few potential leads of intelligent women who are interested in philosophy living within 100 miles of me. That is, at least, a start. I'd be really curious to hear your thoughts and insight on this!!! I'm not financially secure yet. My online business will generate the revenue I need to survive from affiliate marketing of products and services which I have used and trust, in addition to selling digital information products (eBooks, online courses) and precious metals (silver, gold). Would a good woman recognize the value in the content that I am producing, the good will that I exude in my work, and look past my (temporary) financial situation in interest of my other virtues? Would she not care that I'm running at a loss while I grow a following and build my business from the ground up? Or would she scoff at the notion of what I'm doing with my life and disregard my ambition to follow my passions until their fruits could be harvested? I really hope the latter is not entirely the case. I dropped out of college pursuing a degree in Computer Engineering to become an entrepreneur instead. Some women, I would imagine, greatly prefer a man who has high income potential, and a college degree is a good indicator of that status. I'll not have one unless something drastic changes, so that may work against me too. It would seem that if I am already wealthy, as I plan to be, that I can bypass this "blemish" on my potential dating market value. Ultimately, this is a massive decision that I think I need help and perspective on. I don't know if there are things that I am overlooking, underestimating, over-exaggerating, or conflating in my analysis of the situation I'm in. Fortunately, from my perspective, I appear to be in a great starting place compared to where I imagine most 20 year old men are at. I would sincerely appreciate your thoughts, bright minds of the Freedomain Radio community. Thanks for both your time and consideration in reading this. I would be more than happy to take the time to answer any questions or provide clarifications. I greatly look forward to engaging with you in substantive discussion on this subject which I believe is likely highly relevant to many of us young men!

Old wisdom backed by new research: http://www.ted.com/talks/robert_waldinger_what_makes_a_good_life_lessons_from_the_longest_study_on_happiness

I had a lot of fun talking and thinking about this. Hobbies! What are they for? What are they even? Can you have hobbies when the world is on fire? Also, being crazy about your passions! Let me know what you think

Let's play the Where's Waldo: Fallacy Edition! Article Link: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/loves-evolver/201103/sexual-monogamy-does-not-lead-happiness

I speak with Louise Koch as we contrast the claims that the Danes are some of the happiest people in the world with real life experiences. Louise, aka "Fruity Lou", is from Denmark and we struck up a conversation about a meme that makes the connection between the happiness of the Danes and their extensive welfare state. But are things really as good as the propaganda suggests? I had to interview her to find out more and do some research of my own. The research institutions that produce happiness reports are funded by governmental agencies and of course they tell us that government intervention helps to make people happy. To find out more about Louise and her great work visit http://fruitylou.com/ Sources Depression and Antidepressants: A Nordic Perspective http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3854846/ The number of persons with alcohol problems in the Danish population http://sjp.sagepub.com/content/39/2/128 Happiness Research Institute http://www.happinessresearchinstitute.com/

I recently chewed through the Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor and I've become smitten with the work. The book is research focused and contains sources that backs up claims and is well foot-noted. Despite the heavy academic emphasis, the text is easy to read and understand. Achor has developed 7 'principles' for improving work performance through positive psychology. Adopters of positive psychology can expect statistically significant increases in work output and quality of life. The Happiness Advantage starts each principle with a anecdote that is then explained by the author. Next is supporting research and then methods for taking advantage of the principle. As the FDR community loves self-improvement, I recommend this book to anyone who is struggling to bring positivity to their work place and personal relationships. This book may be especially helpful for people just breaking out of the matrix and going through the "there's no hope, everything is not awesome" stage of philosophical development. Here are some videos by the author, I don't think they're a substitute for the book, but they'll help get you started. Shawn Achor's Ted Talk (20 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLJsdqxnZb0 Shawn Achor's Talk at Google (1 hour): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Muce2TxDlMw I'm interested to hear what the rest of the FDR community has to say on this book, so please leave your opinions. If you haven't read it, I'd suggest you buy it, right after you donate some more to FDR! Thanks, and happy pondering!

A while back I had the idea to compile a playlist of songs with a philosophical bent and that had meaning to me. As the list grew I divided it into four parts: 1) Anarchy; 2) Atheism; 3) Defoo; 4) Virtue. Below is the first part, and I'll be posting the others before the year's end. I hope this music brings a tiny bit of joy into your day. https://8tracks.com/mdrake88/philosophy-playlist-part-1-of-4-anarchy "I started this playlist series because sometimes music can speak louder than arguments. The first part contains songs relating to power and anarchy. The progression from beginning to end is one that mirrors my own journey from self-described conservative to political libertarian to philosophical anarcho-capitalist."

I'd like to start a new topic even though I found one with the wrong order of the three words that I think matters because of the meaning of the equal sign here. http://board.freedomainradio.com/topic/33098-reason-happiness-virtue/?hl=%2Breason+%2Bvirtue+%2Bhappiness I think I heard in one podcast Stef saying a different version "Reason + Virtue = Happiness", but I can't find it. How do you understand this? Reason leads to virtue which leads to happiness. Is this a more accurate version? Is it possible to use reason for vice? What are the definitions of reason, virtue or happiness? Is it possible to prove any part of this statement? Here are my thoughts on why reason (or truth) is at least necessary (may be not sufficient) for happiness. A person who has a valid theory describing the surrounding physical reality is happier than the person who doesn't have such theory or has an invalid theory. The reason for this is that if your theory is invalid (or you don't have one) then your expectations on how the reality behaves are inaccurate. You don't know what to expect or the reality regularly produces not what you expect. Uncertainty could be dangerous and also leads to frustration making you less happy. For example, people not knowing the theory of weather may pray and offer sacrifices and still have gods sending them bad weather. People having an invalid theory of government may often get upset about the political process and poor economic outcomes.

This morning I was triggered by something, which provoked much anxiety within me. I came very close to getting up and eating something to sooth myself, but decided to eat two bananas instead. I'm not overweight, in fact I'm quite slender and I exercise daily, but I have gained a bit of fat around the sides of my lower belly from not eating as I should. I'm worth a healthy and energetic body. When I eat junk I feel lethargic, guilty, and overall not good about myself. Sometimes, I overeat and go to bed on a full stomach, only to wake up the next day with a full stomach, which makes it difficult for me to get the most out of my morning workout. It isn't a pleasant way to start out the day. I don't want to keep sending this message to my unconscious that, "I don't deserve a good body". I want to commit to eating better, to love myself enough to stop eating junk. The short benefits of sugar and carbs are not worth the long term, or even the daily stress for that matter, of not getting getting the most out of this precious life, which we are all lucky to be a part of. I want to feel good. I want to look good. i want to live with integrity, so when I talk to people about serious issues, my words have more weight to them. I want that confidence, so I am making a commitment to eating better right now. Although, I am eager to understand how I ended up where I am today in terms of health. I use to be far more committed. I avoided sugar like the plague and I would always order the healthiest item on the menu when out with friends. I took health very seriously and regularly rejected food that was offered to me by others if it was unhealthy. Even if it was a family gathering or a friend’s family gathering, if their food was unhealthy, it didn’t matter how free, unique, or special it was, I refused to compromise my values. My health was more important than their traditions.Was I being too “Anal” about what I ate? This might sound like a disparaging and loaded question to ask myself, but I assure you that’s only because it is. And if you think it’s unfair for me to ask myself questions like that, I agree. What is even more disagreeable is that these are the kinds of questions I would get asked by people who claimed to be my friend. I’m feeling really angry right now thinking about it. I remember being asked this by an old friend while I was in the passenger seat of his car. This occurred shortly after we had both mentioned that we were hungry. Why would he ask a question like this? Control. He wanted to control me. A loaded question is by definition “a rhetorical tool that attempts to limit direct replies to be those that serve the questioners agenda.” So, what was his agenda? Well, he wanted to eat Popeye’s Fried Chicken and knew that I prefered to stay away from that kind of food. But, you see, he didn’t want to have to drive to the grocery store so I could purchase me some fresh produce. You see, that would involve extra driving and he wanted to get his food and go home. So, what he cleverly did was embed false premises in the question and frame it with a negative connotation attached to it. That way, I would be more likely to say no. “Are you feeling anal about food today?”, in other words translates to, “are you feeling your neurotic compulsion to annoyingly obsess over what you eat today and thus willing to become an inconvenience?”. It’s as subtle as it is cruel. And it’s as abusive as it is brilliant, which is why it’s always always worth slowing down and pointing this kind of stuff out. This undoubtedly qualifies as verbal abuse. It’s no wonder I felt so depressed and self loathing when I was around this guy. It really is astounding when you think about it. I wasn’t expressing anything nearly as emotional volatile and explosive as topics such as religion, the state, or family dysfunction. I was receiving this hostility because of my desire to eat plants instead of poultry. Admittedly, it probably does deeper than that. When a person grows and decides to make better, more challenging and rewarding choices in life, there becomes an implicit obligation for the people around him to change as well, if they want to remain friends. I mean, let’s face it, you either grow with or away from people. What this guy in the car was probably experiencing was that obligation. He felt anxious and tense, which is okay to feel. But, he did not take ownership for his feelings and instead interpreted this impetus to change as something that was being imposed upon him. He felt controlled, he did not acknowledged it, so he inflicted this feeling on me. It’s also worth mentioning that this guy was not religious or statist. Intellectually, he accepted that god doesn’t exist and that the state is an institution of violence. Yet, despite this intellectual understanding between us, we could not connect. The lesson that I take from this is that conclusions aren’t enough. Having the “same beliefs”, for a lack of better words, is not a stable foundation for an intimate relationship, nor does it entail that the other person has empathy. The reason I share is not to lecture, but to use my mistakes as a way to warn people away from making the assumptions I did. As surely as physics, in the absence of a strong foundation of honesty, empathy, and curiosity, there can be no sturdy relationship.I was going to give more examples of old friends and family rejecting me in similar ways because of my eating, but I think you get the point. What was originally going to be a list of examples for the purpose of venting, I think has transformed into something more. I’m becoming more aware on an emotional level of the importance of responsibility. Yes, it’s true these people made it very difficult for me to reach my goals by creating an association in my mind that, “committing to goals = the pain of rejection”(or something like that). Also, I think it’s true that we can only be as great as the people we choose to have around us let us be. And I chose to surround myself with these drag downers and to avoid being honest, even after intellectually understanding a number of books and podcasts I had listened to by Stefan Molyneux. I stress the importance of responsibility now, not as a way to castigate myself, but to empower myself and others to bring consciousness to the choices they make so that you can avoid suffering the consequences like I did. Prevention is always better than cure. In other words, remember to eat your bananas.As always, take care.- Joel

When we think about happiness, I think people imagine the feeling that pleasure brings you, the uplifted mood, the quenching of some hunger, the relief that comes from being giving to yourself instead of denying yourself what it wants. Happiness is what occurs after one is done realizing the enriching flow of satisfaction, happiness lingers and is always there, its there when you are thinking more clearly because you got up out of bed, and made time for yourself to get some exercise, it is there when you have friends who genuinely love you for who you are, and it is especially there when being courageous leaves you stinging in the gut afterwards. You realize in these moments that happiness is continuous, the brighter path that one takes everyday because they did what was good, not only for themselves but for their loved ones, the ones they respect now and the ones they may never meet in the future, it is the effect of virtue. Happiness is waking up loving the fact that you are alive, it is all around respect for existence, and it pays off when you look around and see the world, dark as it may be, with cold people sleeping on the steps off of the street and cold people in the buildings as they lurch over them and shrug their shoulders. I imagine they live with that guilt, that realization, deep within themselves, it must be there, that they are somehow not living a life well lived. Happiness is the little things, its having the love of your life respect you, its also showing them that the world is not so lonely and hostile. But pleasure on the other hand is what tears us apart, it reaches into us like a spectre and becomes us, it is the addiction to happiness without the cause, the nihilistic notion that nothing else matters so we will be content, living shortly, briefly but without pause to consider what exactly does short term gain actually get us. canker sores, and loneliness, and beatings that are too many times done by ourselves, by that with is perceived as good and wholesome, the sheep in sheep's clothing that leaves one feeling alone, and vain and self destructive. A little bit of a rambling, I began writing and just let it flow, avoiding distraction. maybe happiness is rambling, on and on about the things you love and avoiding the distractions that tell you it cannot be so and that it is not worth it. ~Feel free to tell me what you think about what I wrote. If anything doesn't make sense, if you would care to expand of some of the concepts that you think I am getting at in this little description. By all means, expand upon this, someone else write a story about pleasure and happiness, a poem, a picture, (Philosophical) Quotes, anything really. I am interested very much so in the importance that this distinction has in living a good life. Is pleasure always bad? are there different types of pleasure? share some stories about how you became happier, share one of the happiest moments of your life...

The third video on self-esteem: What are the signs of high self-esteem, or what are the signs of a healthy, fulfilled, and self-realized human being.

The second video on self-esteem: what is low self-esteem, what are the signs of low self-esteem, and how people try to compensate for their low self-esteem and achieve "happiness."

I'm not fully versed in the history of philosophy, but as I understand it, Aristotle thought that all human action was a means to an end and that this end was individual happiness. First, is this true, and second, if it is true, then, if we say that, for instance, practicing parkour or any other physical activity makes us happy, then why is this the case? The individual is the one who can most authoritatively say what makes him or her happy, but if I state that executing a parkour move (as close as I can humanly come to executing it) perfectly, is an action which makes me happy in its execution, then why is this the case? Perhaps it is due entirely to the physical responses that we get from an action. For instance, orgasm feels good to virtually everyone for reasons that are reasonably well understood. Oddly, orgasm doesn't always make us happy, even though the execution of an orgasm makes us feel physically good. I could use more examples and perhaps site some research, but I think y'all get the idea - why do things which we say make us happy, make us happy?

Because of Phillip Seymour Hoffman's death I remembered this movie he was in, "Happiness" by Todd Solondz. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0147612/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2 It's a very dark satire of modern life, it shows the lives of different people which live "normal" lives while strongly showing the dysfunction underneath. It's pretty hard to describe because Todd Solondz's films are their own genre, they feel like a strong punch in the gut. A "feel-bad" movie is probably the most accurate genre for it. I know the movie industry rarely spits out a work that doesn't enforce the viewer's prejudices, and Happiness is one of those movies. The movie itself from what I know was distributed very poorly, they even tried to sugar coat it. Check this trailer out which makes it look like a comedy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkQ_JxoWUP8 Now check out the intro to the movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b_x9R44qoI Also here's the full movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7plOP4qlIo

I decided to experiment and record a slightly different type of video. Here I share some personal details and ideas on the topics of loneliness, inability to connect, healing, self-work, growth, connecting with yourself, and having meaningful relationships. http://dai.ly/x17zd4m

"Paul Ferrini is the best selling author of over 40 books on love, healing and forgiveness."www.paulferrini.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fekLa216MFQ

The study of rational and empirical philosophy has been the beginning of a new stage in my life. I was first introduced to FDR last year, at which time I considered myself to be a libertarian with an agnostic viewpoint of religion, though I was already leaning toward atheism. Over the past several months, I attempted reading a couple of Stefan Molyneux’s books; however it wasn’t until I tried the audiobook versions that I was successful in covering the material in ‘On Truth’, ‘RTR’, and ‘UPB’. After completing those, I wholeheartedly dove into the podcasts and though I have a lot of catching up to do to get caught up to the latest podcasts, it’s a daily endeavor. I find myself wishing that I’d heard of FDR and Stefan Molyneux back in the early years of his podcasts, so that I could have progressed along with others who have been delving into self-knowledge for far longer than I have; it is such a progressive process. I have to admit that I find posting to any FDR forums to be daunting because I feel like I need to know absolutely what I’m talking about before I participate. Having attended lectures at Fermilab, it’s the same feeling I get when I walk into the auditorium to find a seat, knowing how little I know about the topic to be presented, while surrounded by scientific minds that have been schooled in and experimented with such topics for their entire careers. My enthusiasm for continuing this path is, fortunately, not daunted. I look forward to being a part of this community.